Dr. Emily Funk

Emily Funk

Lab Manager

she/her/hers

Current Projects: 

Developing and implementing a rapid, field deployable CRISPR-based method (SHERLOCK) to genetically identify run-type of Chinook salmon. Of the four run-types in the Central Valley, CA, winter and spring-run salmon are listed as endangered and threatened, so accurate identification of run-type is important for population management. We are working closely with the California Department of Water Resources on this project.

Education and Degree(s)
  • Ph.D. Cornell University, Evolutionary Biology, Ithaca, NY, 2020
  • B.S. University of Connecticut, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Storrs, CT, 2013
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Conservation genetics
  • Development of new genetic monitoring methods
Publications
  • Baerwald, M.R., Funk, E.C., Goodbla, A.M., Campbell, M.A., Thompson, T., Meek, M.H., Schreier, A.D. (internal review) Rapid CRISPR-Cas13a genetic identification enables new opportunities for listed Chinook salmon management. Conservation Biology. 
  • Thompson, A.W., Hawkins, M.B., Parey, E., et al. (including Funk, E.C.). (2021) The bowfin genome illuminates the developmental evolution of ray-finned fishes. Nature Genetics 53, 1373-1384.
  • Funk, E. C., Birol, E. B., McCune, A. R. (2021) Does the bowfin gas bladder represent an intermediate stage during the lung-to-gas bladder evolutionary transition?. Journal of Morphology 282 (4), 600-611.
  • Funk, E., Lencer, E., & McCune, A. (2020). Dorsoventral inversion of the air‐filled organ (lungs, gas bladder) in vertebrates: RNAsequencing of laser capture microdissected embryonic tissue. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 334(6), 325-338.
  • Funk, E. C., Breen, C., Sanketi, B. D., Kurpios, N., & McCune, A. (2020). Changes in Nkx2. 1, Sox2, Bmp4, and Bmp16 expression underlying the lung‐to‐gas bladder evolutionary transition in ray‐finned fishes. Evolution & Development, 22(5), 384-402.